At the present time a number of chest protectors, to protect players during athletic games, are widely used. For example, padded chest protectors are used in baseball, for the catcher, and they are used in lacrosse, field hockey, and in ice hockey for the goal keeper.
However, in many sports, chest protectors are not used because the players must run in order to play the game and they do not want to wear heavily padded garments. This is less of a problem in those sports using large or soft balls. In those sports, such as soccer and basketball, the force of the ball, because it is large, is less likely to cause any damage to the body. However, in some sports the ball or puck is small and hard and may be propelled at high speed. For example, in lacrosse and baseball, the ball is both small and hard and may be thrown and or hit at speeds of between seventy and one hundred miles an hour, even in amateur games.
In the past few years a number of injuries and deaths have resulted when children were hit in the chest by a lacrosse ball. A small number of schools, as a result, have installed automated external defibrillators to revive the child who goes into cardiac arrest from commotio cordis because of a shock to the chest. This program is limited, due to the cost of such defibrillators and the strong possibility that when they are needed neither the defibrillator nor someone trained in its use would be available. A review article, by Doctor Mark Link of the Tufts Medical Center, points out the significant percentage of deaths on the amateur lacrosse field are due to impact to the chest area, causing commotio cordis (sudden cardiac arrest). This problem is most frequently observed in young athletes, ages 4 to 18. The victims are most often suffering from ventricular fibrillation, a fast heartbeat rhythm which is life threatening. The Sport Science and Safety Committee of the U.S. Lacrosse Association has recently found that there are no chest protectors on the market, for lacrosse players, which they approved and which eliminate the risk of dying from chest injury when struck by a lacrosse ball.
The United States patent literature includes various patents and published patent applications directed toward chest protectors in sports. Many of these are suitable for a baseball catcher who does not run around a field when catching pitched baseballs. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,299 to Chen, a baseball chest protector includes a pad body and a series of shock absorbent pad blocks. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,519,782 to Collins et al., a baseball chest protector includes an ambient air filled pouch assembly.
Other patents are directed toward chest protectors for the players who normally run while playing. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,769,688 to Holliday, a bra-like chest protector for women athletes comprises a soft foam exterior and a hard, high density plastic internal breast plate. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,537 to Marion, an internal breast plate athletic safety jacket has a circular plate over the heart area.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,472 to Castellania, a sleeveless chest protector has pockets holding inflatable cushions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,610,035 to Mattila, relates to an upper body protector having semi-rigid chest and shoulder portions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,249 to Clemet discloses a chest protector having a plastic cap-like shaped plate attached to a rubber pad which protrudes from a soft terry cloth pocket. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,537 to Marioa an athletic jacket has rigid compressed, dense plastic foam pieces and a rigid hard shield over the heart.